Read this page in : Español · Français · English.

Published in Valencia in 1831, La conquista de Valencia por el Cid belongs to the first generation of Spanish romantic historical novels. Estanislao de Cosca Vayo turns national material of great legendary density into an adventure narrative.

The Cid between history and myth

The novel does not sharply separate the documented Rodrigo Díaz from the hero transmitted through chronicles and ballads. Its effectiveness arises from that overlap: the Cid functions as a historical character, national emblem and epic centre of gravity.

A conquest viewed from Valencia

The siege and occupation of the city connect military, urban and maritime spaces. Vayo gives the eastern Spanish landscape an unusual visibility for the fiction of his time. That regional sensitivity anticipates the structural importance landscape will acquire in El señor de Bembibre.

Adventure and national tradition

Unlike novels dominated by impossible love, the work moves towards victory. Vayo engages with Walter Scott while asserting the sufficiency of the peninsular tradition. Chronicle, epic and ballad therefore nourish a modern historical novel with an affirmative ending.

About the author: Estanislao de Cosca Vayo.

Alba Longa’s edition

Language of the book offered for purchase: Spanish. This study is translated into English; the buttons below lead to the Spanish edition.

Source: Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.